Buying a home in Beaverton

The median price I'm not going to quote you

Every other city page on this site leads with a median sale price. This one can't, and I'd rather explain the hole than fill it with a number I don't believe.

Here's the problem. When I went looking for a current Beaverton median, the two big national sources told me contradictory stories. Redfin's Beaverton page served November 2025 data showing $564,000, up 9.0% year over year. Zillow served January 2026 data showing $520,499, down 2.6%, along with a December 2025 median sale of $522,113. So one source has Beaverton up nine percent and the other has it down almost three, over roughly the same stretch, and they're more than forty thousand dollars apart on the level.

Which one is right? I don't know, and neither does anybody quoting one of them at you. Hillsboro was down 1.5% and Portland city was down 1.7% over comparable periods, so the Zillow direction looks more plausible to me. But that's inference from the neighbors, not data about Beaverton, and inference isn't good enough to publish on a page you might make a six-figure decision from.

What I can tell you from the Census, with confidence, is that Beaverton's median owner-occupied home value is $569,800 and the median monthly owner cost for a household with a mortgage is $2,413. Those are five-year ACS estimates rather than current sale prices, so they answer a slightly different question, but they're solid.

Who buys here, and why that changes how the loan gets done

Beaverton is one of the most diverse cities in Oregon, and that isn't a brochure line, it's in the Census numbers. Of roughly 97,842 people: 19.3% Hispanic or Latino, 11.2% Asian, and 14.7% two or more races. Median household income is $98,622, which is higher than Portland's $90,919.

So why does a mortgage broker care about the demographic breakdown? Because it tells me what the files look like. In a market like this one, a meaningful share of well-qualified buyers don't fit the shape the standard mortgage process assumes. They file taxes with an ITIN rather than a Social Security number. They have money and no FICO score, because they've never carried a credit card. They're paid partly in cash, or they run a business, or the down payment is coming from three family members instead of one savings account. None of that is a credit problem. It's a documentation problem, and documentation problems have solutions.

That's the actual reason I built out the ITIN page and the bank statement loan page the way I did. Those aren't exotic products in Washington County. They're Tuesday.

Buying without a Social Security number, or without a thick credit file

ITIN mortgages

You can buy a house filing taxes with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number instead of a Social Security number. These are portfolio or non-QM loans, meaning the lender keeps them or sells them privately rather than to Fannie Mae, so the down payment is larger and the cost is higher, and the rules vary from lender to lender. Typically you're looking at 15% to 20% down, a credit score somewhere in the 620 to 680 range or an alternative credit profile, and two years of filed returns under the ITIN.

Two things changed recently that most published guidance hasn't caught up to, one at HUD in 2025 and one at the federal regulators in 2026, and both narrow the field. The full ITIN page covers what happened and what it means, and I'd read it before you talk to anybody about this.

No credit score is not the same as bad credit

This one comes up constantly and the answer surprises people. Many lenders will build a credit profile out of things you're already paying: rent, utilities, a phone bill, insurance. The usual shape is three or four accounts with twelve months of on-time payments, documented. So if you've been paying rent on time for a decade and have never had a credit card, you are not starting from zero, you're starting from undocumented.

Gift funds and multiple borrowers

Gift funds from family are broadly permitted, and on some programs they can cover the entire down payment. What trips people up is the paper trail, because a gift has to be documented with a letter and traced from the giver's account to yours. So move that money early and leave it alone, rather than having it land in your account the week before closing.

And if the household includes more than two working adults, ask me about whether adding a borrower helps or hurts, because it depends on whose debts come along with the income. It isn't automatic in either direction.

Language

I don't speak Spanish, and I'm not going to claim otherwise. I work with people who do, and I'll arrange for the conversation to happen in the language you're comfortable in. Say so at the start and I'll set it up.

Washington County property taxes, and the Metro tax that isn't automatic

Two things to know here, and the second one is the one people get wrong.

Measure 50 applies in Beaverton the same as everywhere in Oregon

A sale does not reset your assessed value. Oregon taxes the lower of Real Market Value or Maximum Assessed Value, and Maximum Assessed Value has been growing at most 3% a year since 1997, when Measure 50 rolled it back to 90% of each property's 1995–96 value. New construction, additions, remodels and subdivisions are the exceptions that reset it, so a house built in South Cooper Mountain last year carries a very different tax picture from the 1974 house two streets over, even at the same price. The Portland page has the full mechanism written out.

Washington County's typical effective rate works out to roughly 1.01% of market value, from an average of $17.96 per $1,000 of assessed value against a countywide assessed-to-market ratio of 0.560. That's lower than Multnomah's ~1.17% and a bit above Clackamas at ~0.98%. Those are FY 2024-25 figures and countywide averages across every property type including commercial, so treat them as typical, not as a quote. For a specific address I pull the parcel record from the county assessor before setting up escrow.

The Metro Supportive Housing Services tax does not follow county lines

This is the one worth being careful about. The Metro district covers the urbanized parts of Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties, and parts of all three counties are outside it. So a Washington County address does not automatically owe the 1% Metro Supportive Housing Services tax, and anybody who tells you otherwise is guessing. Check the address against Metro's boundary.

The tax itself is 1% on taxable income above the threshold, and the thresholds now index annually. For 2026 they're $128,000 single and $205,000 joint, up from $125,000 and $200,000 which held for tax years 2021 through 2025.

What Beaverton residents don't owe: Multnomah County's Preschool for All tax (Multnomah only) and the $35 Portland Arts Tax (City of Portland residents only). The Oregon versus Washington guide lays out the whole stack, including the Preschool for All rate increase coming January 1, 2027. Then take all of it to your CPA, because I'm a mortgage broker and none of this is tax advice.

Loan limits

Washington County sits at the national baseline, the same as every other county in this metro.

The conforming baseline rose $26,250 for 2026 from $806,500. Above $832,750 you're into jumbo, which almost never comes up in Beaverton at current prices but does come up on the larger properties around Cooper Mountain.

Down payment help, and how to get in line

Written as how it works and how to get in line, not as apply today, because these are budgeted programs and the money runs out at different times in different places. Confirm current status with the organization administering the program before you count on it. Neither agency publishes an open-or-closed status on its own page.

• Oregon Housing and Community Services funds down payment assistance of up to $60,000 or 20% of the purchase price, whichever is less, for first-time and/or first-generation buyers at or below 100% of area median income, with homebuyer education and a certified housing counselor required. Veterans may use up to 10% of it for lender-required repairs, and 25% of funds are set aside for eligible veterans and their families. It comes as a grant, a forgivable second lien, or an amortizing second lien depending on the organization. You apply to the partner organization serving Washington County, not to OHCS itself.
• The Portland Housing Bureau program does not reach Beaverton. It requires the property to be inside Portland city limits. I mention it because people read about the $80,000 to $100,000 figure and assume it's regional, and it isn't.

OHCS also pairs assistance with its own first-mortgage products, and that pairing can cover up to 100% of your cash to close. I'm not publishing the percentage or income-limit figures for those here, because the only document I could find with specific numbers was last updated in February 2023 and stale program numbers are worse than none. Ask and I'll get the current ones.

More detail on the first-time buyer page.

The numbers

On the local character, which is my own read rather than anything I can cite: Beaverton is mostly 1960s through 1990s subdivision stock, with a townhome and condo segment that's unusually large and active for a suburb, and that segment is a real first-time-buyer entry point in Washington County. Nike's world headquarters anchors employment. Newer construction concentrates in South Cooper Mountain and around Progress Ridge, while Murray Hill, Cedar Hills, Cedar Mill, Somerset West and Five Oaks are the established neighborhoods. The school district drives a lot of demand, and MAX Blue Line access shapes the market around the Beaverton Transit Center.

If you're looking at a condo or a townhome here, the project-level financing questions on the Portland page apply the same way. The building gets approved alongside you.

Run the affordability calculator to see what a payment looks like, and the rent-versus-buy calculator if you're not sure buying is the move yet.

Common questions

Why won't you just give me a median price?

Because the two sources I checked disagree by more than $40,000 and point in opposite directions, and picking the one I like better would be marketing, not information. Ask and I'll pull the current RMLS Beaverton/Aloha figure, which is the number that's actually local and actually current.

Can I buy here with an ITIN?

Yes. You'll generally need 15% to 20% down, two years of filed returns under the ITIN, and either a credit score around 640 or an alternative credit profile built from rent and utilities. The ITIN page covers what changed in 2025 and 2026, and it matters.

I've never had a credit card. Am I stuck?

No. A lot of lenders will build a profile from rent, utilities, phone and insurance, usually three or four accounts with twelve months of clean history. Start saving the documentation now, because that's the part that takes time.

Do I owe the Metro housing tax if I live in Beaverton?

Not automatically. The Metro district covers the urbanized parts of three counties and doesn't follow county lines, so it depends on the specific address. Check it before you assume, and ask your CPA about your return.

Is Beaverton or Hillsboro the better buy?

On the data I trust, Hillsboro has the better price-to-income ratio and the higher median household income. Beaverton has more townhome and condo inventory at the entry level and a shorter commute to the west side of Portland. I'd rather look at specific houses with you than argue the averages.

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Sources for the figures on this page: US Census Bureau QuickFacts, ACS 2020–2024 five-year estimates with income in 2024 dollars and July 2025 population estimates; Redfin and Zillow Beaverton market pages (cited only to show that they disagree); Oregon Department of Revenue, FY 2024-25 Oregon Property Tax Statistics Report (150-303-405); City of Portland Revenue Division personal tax pages for the Metro Supportive Housing Services thresholds; FHFA 2026 conforming loan limit announcement; HUD press release 25-145 and industry FHA limit tables for the Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro MSA; Oregon Housing and Community Services down payment assistance page. Neighborhood and housing-stock characterizations are my own local read, not a cited data source. Nothing on this page is tax, legal or accounting advice, and I'm not a CPA or an attorney. Tax figures are published to help you ask better questions, so run your own situation past a CPA before you plan around any of it. This page is not a commitment to lend and not an offer of credit. Every loan is subject to underwriting, appraisal, program guidelines and final approval, and program terms change without notice. Mark Ruhl, NMLS #105591. Mortgage Express, LLC. Equal Housing Opportunity.